Stark statistics of Grey Bruce opioid crisis

Municipal leaders must utilize a 'health in all policies" approach to push for funding to deal with the root causes of addiction and mental health according to public health officials who issued an opioid crisis call to action at the Oct. 10 Saugeen Shores committee of the whole meeting.

As she asked councillors to be aware of the role they can play in the crisis, Sarah Ellis, chief nursing officer and program manager with the Grey Bruce Health Unit, provided some startling statistics concerning opioid use and abuse.

One person dies every 12 hours in Ontario from an opioid overdose; opioid-related emergency department visits tripled in Grey Bruce over the past 14 years; nine deaths were attributed to fentanyl toxicity from 2010 to 2014 in Grey Bruce; and there were 673 opioid-related deaths in Ontario in 2014, and 481 motor vehicle deaths.

Ellis said reasons for development of the opioid crisis are complex and include trends in high-dose prescribing by doctors, marketing that presented opioids as a safe pain management tool, no increase in addiction or mental health services, and the lack of understanding and treatment options for chronic pain.

"We know [the opioid crisis] is big, its complex and worsening," Ellis said, stressing that opioid use is not a crime issue, but a health issue affecting family, friends and neighbours.

Even though Grey Bruce has a crystal meth strategy, an opioid working group, needle exchange sites, harm reduction support group and distribution of Naloxone - an anti-overdose treatment - treatment services are "woefully underfunded/under resourced" according to Dave Hoy, Program Director of Hope Grey Bruce Addiction Services.

With 11 full-time and one part-time counsellor in Grey Bruce for addiction treatment services, and three full-time and one part-time youth counsellor in Grey Bruce, Hoy said there are long lists of people waiting for opioid use treatment, made more difficult due to rural locations and transportation barriers.

"Doctors are key to addressing [treatment issues] with the need to expand the number of doctors comfortable with prescribing substitution therapies," Hoy said, adding they are trying to draft a community opioid response.

Hoy said politicians can help by approaching the opioid crisis as a health issue, not a moral one, and they need to stop stigmatizing people who use opioids.

Hoy said they "upped their game" when it came to distribution of Naloxone to reverse drug overdoses - in fact, Health Unit officials will train Saugeen Shores police officers in the use of Naloxone this week, and the Saugeen Shores Police Services is developing a Naloxone policy to protect its officers and potentially save lives.

Saugeen Shores Deputy Mayor Luke Charbonneau said that all first responders should be equipped with and trained to use Nalozone. In June, the province announced it would make an additional 69,000 doses of Naloxone available monthly.

Ellis and Hoy asked councillors to advocate for funding to deal with the causes of addiction and mental health, including safe and affordable housing, access to mental health services, access to transportation and childcare and social support programs. Several councillors noted those are county, not municipal issues, and suggested Ellis and Hoy make the same presentation to Grey County and Bruce County councils.